My DJ Headphones

Just how much you have to invest to have the headphones that will be perfect for you depends on the things you plan on doing with those headphones.

DJ Headphones may vary drastically in price, beginning in the $20-30 range, all the way up to over $1000.

Pricey headphones are usually pricey for 2 reasons: Isolation and Accuracy.

Isolation can be defined as how well the headphones block out ambient noise, for example, the roar in a club or maybe the infant screeching in the plane seat behind you while you are trying to sleep. The more effective your headphones are at isolation, the more costly they will be.

Accuracy is incredibly crucial, which is why highly accurate headphones are extremely pricey. If you listen to a song using your computer speakers, then hear the exact same song on your car radio you'll realize that they will come across as radically different.

It's because speakers and headphones that are not professional quality will have faulty frequency response. This means that particular audio frequencies may be louder or possibly softer than they should be. For instance, your laptop speakers probably have little or no bass frequency response. You won't get that subwoofer punch from your laptop. Conversely, if you hear a track through that massive sub you installed in your trunk, you are most likely hearing far too much bass, and not enough treble or mids.

Preferably, as a professional DJ or musician you want headphones or speakers that give a flat frequency response. This will mean that if you listen to a track, the sound you are hearing is exactly the way the recording engineer mixed it, without any Incorrect frequency boosts.

This can be crucial, because you would like your mixes to come across exactly the same on stage or in the club as they did when you were recording them in your studio.

So what level of isolation and accuracy will you actually need?

Well, it depends on what you need use them for. Let's say for instance, that you're DJing a smaller event at a university, you're spinning other people's tracks and you're not remixing anything beforehand or doing anything too complex. Or maybe you are just looking for a good pair of headphones for casual listening.

Either way you'd probably be good with using a pair of Shure SRH 440s. These headphones sound excellent, they give you a good, mostly flat response, and are also constructed well which means they will last many years. Additionally they are very well padded and they sit firmly around the ear to provide impressive passive isolation. I can recommend these headphones to anyone from a casual user, to someone who is looking to get a little more serious about music, but isn't completely professional as of yet.

However, if you're interested in being a pro DJ, DJing major clubs in which you spin your very own remixes and cue up each track, in that case you'll need a pair that's much more accurate and isolating, so that you can hear the track in your headphones over the track presently wailing out from the speakers.

Ultrasone DJ1 Pro headphones are good for pro DJs. These are designed to safeguard your hearing by way of reducing the actual decibels pounding on your eardrum, while keeping precisely the same perceived volume. So basically they just as loud as similar DJ headphones but your ears just take 40% less abuse. Very good if you're going to be in the mix for a while. Not as good, though, if you're on a tight budget.